The Waiting

Now that its getting warmer I have started going on my walks and runs in the morning before it gets too intolerable. When I’m just planning on a leisurely stroll I take Lucy along, but if I’m planning on a longer walk or a run, she stays at home. A few days ago I headed out for a morning run. Pam watched Lucy go over to the bedroom window where she sat down and watched me as I made it around the culdesac, then as I disappeared down the street. Several times while I was gone she would walk back over to the window, watching and waiting for me to return. Finally, Pam took this picture:

Its a perfect example of why we love dogs, right? Their entire world revolves around us. They love us without reservation or condition. When we leave them they wait expectantly for our return. She is concerned, her ears perked up wondering where I am and when I will come home. If you look closely at the window you will see that it is covered with nose prints. This is one of Lucy’s many lookout spots. She is always watching. Waiting…and its the waiting that’s the hardest part.

When I first saw this picture it occurred to me that most of us are just like Lucy. Most of us have someone who we wait for, someone who when they are away we worry about. For some of us its a child, both the little ones and the ones grown up and moved on. For more and more of my friends, they’re waiting for someone who will never again return in this life. A husband has passed away, a wife, a parent, or worst of all…a child. They are learning to live with the crushing weight of loss. My heart goes out to them, along with the words of the psalmist, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”